A Love to Kill
by isle-of-fervor
Summary: Sequel to A Dangerous Game. Caroline is intent on seeking vengeance for her friends...by killing Klaus. Eventual Klaroline.
1. Reunion

**A/N: Ok, so it's been a little while but I have been working (somewhat) consistently on this fic for you guys like I promised. I know half of you hate me for the last chapter of A dangerous game and half of you love me, but I hope this fic makes up (or sustains or whatever) for that! BTW, you do not have to have read A dangerous game before this, but it does obviously contain spoilers for it, and the first few chapters may be a bit confusing to start with.**

** Enjoy, R&R :)**

* * *

><p>The plan was definitely not for <em>him<em> to find _her_ first.

Caroline had been in England for four months now, doing nothing but chasing useless lead after useless lead after useless lead. She was downtrodden but not shocked. It was hardly surprising that no sane witch wanted to trust the foreign new vampire. The most information that she got out of any with was just another name of _another_ witch to chase up on. Caroline had tried the good cop scenario, bad cop and every other damn cop in between.

What she had learnt so far: the witch that had created the weapon was named Emily May Hedden. For some reason still unknown to her coven, Emily May had been born with an abnormally large amount of power, especially for such a young age. Even _more _extraordinary than that was the massive amount of control she managed to keep over it. Emily was scarily in tune with the spirits, so much that she was even able to contact the Bennett witches, who she was only very distantly related too.

It was the Bennett spirits who had helped her craft the stake that could take down Klaus. Emily had made the weapon after Klaus had unknowingly killed Emily's little sister in a dark alley. The stake itself was nothing but an ordinary piece of oak, completely indistinguishable but for Emily May's initials carved in the base handle. In other words, impossible to find unless you knew where to look.

Not that any witch was willing to help Caroline in _that _department.

Finally, though, Caroline got somewhere. It was from a witch named Marilyn, a withered old lady who lived alone in a small flat in Chelsea.

"Why would I tell you where Emily May's stake is?" Marilyn asked, swirling her spoon around her teacup. "You're a vampire. You could well be compelled and working for Klaus."

"I take vervain every day." Caroline sipped the tea, which was laced heavily vervain as well, and willed herself not to flinch. Marilyn narrowed her eyes at Caroline over the table, trying to determine whether or not she was telling the truth.

"Still…" She said cautiously, "As with any other serial killer lunatic, Klaus has his own little groupies. Are you promising me that you're not just in love with him?"

Caroline didn't realise that she had crushed the china teacup in her hand until she felt the hot vervain liquid burn red trails down her palms.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Caroline mumbled, feeling her cheeks grow hot in embarrassment. She was sure she was about to be kicked out of Marilyn's home at any minute.

Marilyn waved off the apology, staring intently at Caroline. "What was your reason for wanting to kill Klaus again, sweetheart?" She asked, her voice probing.

Caroline hesitated briefly. Should she tell the truth? She had never talked about the Worst day of her life willingly after it had happened. To all the previous witches, she had simply stated that Klaus had 'wronged her', and that she wanted justice.

But, Marilyn, though. She looked like she knew something. And she looked like she was considering trusting Caroline. She was the best and only chance Caroline had had in a long time. Taking a deep breath, Caroline took the plunge.

"My best friend was a witch." She said after a moment, idly watching the vervain burns heal on her hand. "My other two best friends were both vampires, but they didn't kill humans to feed. I loved them all. So much, I loved them all so much." She met Marilyn's gaze. "Klaus murdered them all, just a flight of stairs down from where I stood. And I _am_ going to kill him. No matter what it takes."

Marilyn stared back at her. "I don't know where the stake is." She said. "But I know someone that does."

Caroline began to protest immediately. "All I've _heard _is your _exact _words-"

Marilyn held up a hand to silence her. "Be quiet." Caroline sulkily stopped talking.

"Like I was saying, I know for _sure _this person knows where the first hint is."

"The first hint? What is this, some sort of scavenger hunt?"

Marilyn grinned, showing her crooked dentures. "Of course it is. I only met Emily May once, but she was once of the slyest women I ever met. This is not a straightforward task, Caroline. Know that before you take yourself any further. Any who, I know that my great niece Janice knows where the first hint is, because she told me so. When you meet her, tell her that Marilyn sent you, and that I'm cashing in my favour from Puerto Rico. She'll definitely help you."

"Okay, great." For the first time in months Caroline felt a spark of optimism. Marilyn's lead would definitely help her.

"The only problem is finding Janice."

Caroline's optimism faded as quickly as it had appeared.

"What do you mean?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

"Anyone who knows anything about Emily's weapon is in hiding, child. You're not the only one looking for Emily May's stake."

"Well, do _you _know where Janice is?"

"Last I heard, a week ago, she was still here in Chelsea. Here," Marilyn got up and shuffled into her kitchen and to her fridge. She pulled a photo off it, and a thousand and one magnets went clattering to the floor in a succession of noise. Marilyn ignored it and handed Caroline the photo. It was a photo of a teenager about Caroline's own age, wearing a teal string bikini and a pair of aviator sunglasses. They were shading the top half of her face, but Caroline quickly noted the broad nostrils on the nose, the slightly puckered top lip and the sharp chin. She went to hand it back to Marilyn, the image ingrained in her mind, but the old woman shook the gesture off.

"Keep it. You don't know how long searching for her will take. I have piles of Janice's silly little selfies here." Marilyn laughed, and laid a gentle hand on Caroline's shoulder. "I may not like _what_ you are, child, but I _do _like what you're fighting for. Do me a favour and try and do it peacefully, ok? I don't want innocents to die for your own personal vendetta. If you ruin my town, I'll have to return the favour."

Caroline managed a smile. "I don't drink from the vein." She told Marilyn. "And I don't have the sort of conscious that would allow me to kill."

"Keep it that way." Marilyn settled herself back into her chair and sipped her tea. "All the best, child."

"Thank you." Caroline said sincerely, her first solid clue clutched tightly in her fist.

* * *

><p>Marilyn had been wrong. Janice wasn't just difficult to find. She was <em>impossible. <em>Caroline had spent over two weeks now, combing every pub, restaurant, coffee shop, school, mall and library for a glimpse of her. She had lost count of all the strange looks she had received due to over creeping at strangers' noses and lips. So far, nothing. Caroline decided to give Chelsea another week, before trying to branch out. She considered compelling some humans to give her a hand looking for Janice, but had gone off that idea almost immediately after remembering that was the same tactic that Elena's psycho birth mother had taken. No, _thank _you.

God, she missed Elena so much.

Caroline was in a club called Vendome, downing her third mojito. This was the seventh time she had been looking for Janice in this club, and she was slowly working her way through the entire cocktail menu. Apparently, some up and coming Kate Moss lookalike socialite was rumoured to be showing up sometime tonight, so the majority of the club's crowd were swarmed by the front entrance. The only people still dancing were the ones too drunk to care about the girl, or all the people who thought they were above fangirling over a reality show star. And Caroline, of course. Who already knew for a fact that this girl, whoever her name was, was _not_ Janice.

A very drunk, middle aged man wearing very, very tight red leather pants stumbled up to Caroline, landing a meaty paw on her shoulder, and slurred out an invitation for a dance.

Caroline gritted her teeth into a polite smile, and wished that she was drunk. "No thank you," She said, downing the rest of her drink.

"Come on, sweetheart, I've got the moves." The old man began performing a set of particularly vile hip thrusts, losing his balance and falling over in Caroline, who tried to shove the dead weight off.

"I'm fine, thank you." She repeated, standing up.

"_Come _on, you sexy little tease!" The man said more insistently, his hand shooting out in the direction of Caroline's breast. Caroline flinched away automatically. Another hand clamped on the man's wrist, stopping it in its path.

"You have three seconds to move along, mate, before I rip your head off." The man who had grabbed the drunk man's wrist said, his voice a pleasant British lilt.

Caroline felt her knees buckles and herself fall back onto her chair, her legs no longer able to support her. Every hair on the back of her neck stood pin straight to attention. She felt a cold, clammy sweat pool in her palms and armpits. _No_. _NO. _Oh, God, _PLEASE _no.

Slowly, Caroline lifted her gaze to look at him. He looked different, and the same, all at once. He had grown out his scruff into something that was almost a beard, and his blonde curls were looking wildly shaggy. Caroline usually preferred the clean cut look, but she couldn't help herself from thinking that he suited it. Klaus' mouth spread into his trademark cocky smirk, his hand still wrapped around the drunk man's arm.

"Leave him, Klaus." Caroline said. "He's harmless." It was the first words she had said to him, this man that hand wrecked and changed her life irrevocably in less than a minute, in thirty five years. She was proud of the fact that her voice did not tremble, because she was sure that it would.

Klaus raised an eyebrow.

"I'll be the judge of that, love." He said. "He didn't look so harmless one minute ago."

Ignoring him, Caroline leant forward and looked into the drunk man's eyes, her pupils diluting.

"Leave this club and go to sleep. Drink some water before you go to bed." Nodding, the drunk man wrenched himself from Klaus' grasp and made his way to the front door, shoving through the large crowd that was still gathered there. Klaus said nothing as he left, instead taking the man's position of the chair next to Caroline. Caroline turned away from him and focused her gaze on her empty drink in front of her.

"Ahem." Klaus cleared his throat. "Would you like another, sweetheart?"

One part of Caroline was tempted to reply with one of her trademark responses, "_Thanks, but I'd rather die of thirst", _or something along those lines. But she bit her lip. She didn't feel comfortable sharing that kind of banter with Klaus anymore. Too much had changed. There was too much hanging in the small space between them. How could she playfully tease the man who had slaughtered her best friends?

"I'll get my own." Caroline said, instead, waving over the bartender. "Another." She requested, pushing her glass forward.

"I'll have a Scotch. Clean." Klaus requested, his eyes trained on Caroline even as he spoke to the bartender. Caroline pointedly ignored him.

"Love." Klaus said, trying to catch her attention. Caroline continued ignoring him.

"Caroline." His voice was laced with irritation now, an order rather than a request. Reluctantly, Caroline swivelled in her bar stool to face him.

"I didn't realise you were in England." His familiar bravado sent Caroline tumbling through a pitfall of memories. Every word he had ever said to her, how the raw words they shared in private were so vastly different from the cruel things he would say in public, when he was trying to impress everyone by being the cruel and ruthless hybrid. The last thing he had ever said to her, "I should have killed you, too."

Caroline felt bile rising in her throat. She needed to throw up. This man, this man standing so fucking _casually_ in front of her, was responsible for the pointless and pitiful thing she now called her life. He was the responsible for the Worst day in her life. He was responsible for the nightmares that plagued her every night. He was responsible for every tear she shed in the dark in the middle of the night, enveloped in nothing but misery and grief. She had lost everyone, just so that he didn't have to lose a child's game. He was responsible for the new Caroline that had emerged after her Worst day: hard, unfeeling, mean, careful to distance herself from anyone and everyone. He was responsible for bringing her to the verge of flipping her humanity switch.

The only thing that had held her back was the fear of not caring, or remembering her friends anymore. They deserved more than that. They deserved to be mourned, and cried over, and brought vengeance over. And that was exactly what Caroline was going to give them.

"I've been everywhere now. I just point to a map," She cleared her throat, trying to keep herself from screaming at him and attacking him. "And go there. It's not like I have ties to anyone anymore." There it was. The moment she said the words she saw Klaus' smirk shift a millimetre, displeasure dawning in his eyes. Did he expect her not to bring it up? What, did he expect her to _forget_?

The bartender poured up Caroline's drink and she downed it all in one swell gulp, wiping the residue off her chin.

"Thirsty?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"More like a crippling desire to get drunk." Caroline answered.

Klaus frowned. "I prefer you sober. I believe people are more unbecoming drunk."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "I prefer you unjudging." She snapped, unable to stop herself. "And don't lecture me on drinking. You sound like me talking to my fiancé." Caroline knew when she said that it would shift the conversation immediately from her drinking. She wasn't in any mood to be lectured.

That piqued Klaus' interest. "Fiancé?" He asked, his voice raising in pitch. Caroline saw a hint of possessiveness flash across his eyes, making her angry. How dare he? Ruin her life and then walk back into it thirty years later, throwing off shade about her behaviour and relationships.

"Yes. Eric."

"How long have you been seeing him?"

"I don't know. Three years, I think. Feels like a lifetime. I can't stand him."

Klaus' eyebrows shot up so quickly that it was almost comical.

"Pardon," He said, his voice at least an octave higher than its usual pitch. "May I possibly ask why you're engaged to him, then?"

_No, you may _not, _you murdering psycho because you have _no _right to know _anything _about my life._ Caroline couldn't stand this another minute. She didn't want to be here with him. She wanted to _kill _him. That was the whole reason that she was in this damn stupid club anyway. She didn't want to _drink _with this man, or tell him about her _personal _life, or to be asked question by the _monster _that had made her entire world stop turning. If she didn't leave right now, she would blow up at Klaus and probably give something away and ruin her entire plan. She couldn't let her friends down like that.

She stood up, gathering her handbag and slapping money down on the bar to pay for her drinks. Caroline turned to smile at Klaus, her face bleak and stained with bitterness.

"Haven't you heard, Klaus? It's my new lifestyle. I surround myself with people that I hate, so that when they are taken from me, they don't take everything I am with them."


	2. A Clue

The pavement pounded under Caroline's feet, as she pumped her arms and worked herself to go faster, _faster_. One mile, two miles…after seven miles, Caroline felt herself deflated of all oxygen and finished her morning run with her daily routine of slowly hobbling back to her motel room, clutching her aching side. Through her breathless pain, Caroline smiled to herself. Yesterday she had only managed six and a half.

Caroline's motel still looked bare and empty, despite her living in it for months now. The only traces of her was the unmade bed, the open, overflowing suitcase in the corner of the room, and the small make up collection stacked tidily on her bedside table. Oh, and her psycho slightly serial killer like pin board hanging over her bed. In the centre of the pin board was Janice's photo, a halo of yellow string pinned around it. Caroline had stuck up a catalogue of the shop that Janice's bikini was from beside it, and beside that was the most 'chill' places to hang out in Chelsea, according to a couple of random teenagers she had asked on the street. There was photos from every one of Janice's yearbooks, and handwritten notes from talking to all of Janice's friends that Caroline had been able to track down. Unfortunately, none of them had known where Janice had gone either. Or, more accurately, most of them thought that she was still in Chelsea and didn't realise they hadn't seen their friend in five weeks until Caroline had probed them for details.

_Some friends she has_ Caroline thought, studying her board like she did every day. _I think about _mine _every day._ Of course the situations were slightly different, but Caroline didn't feel like listening to her subconscious. Right now, she was irritated that Janice's friends were slack, and that they couldn't help her track Janice down.

A sharp rapping on the door interrupted Caroline's thoughts. Her weedy and slightly creeping landlord, Mr Fiench, poked his head around the door, his eyes flashing like he was hoping that he had caught Caroline mid-dress or something equally scandalous. At the sight of her in running gear, dripping with sweat, his smile faded and he poked his open palm in the room.

"This weeks rent, please," He ordered. Caroline sighed and made her way to the bed, searching under the mattress until she came across her envelope of funds. She took out four hundred and thirty bucks and gave it to Mr Fiench, jamming the door shut on his face as gently as she could. The money was all Stefan's and Damon's fortune. She figured that they wouldn't mind much, seeing as Damon had killed their last living relative and it would have otherwise sat there doing nothing. Caroline didn't want to worry about money. She had only one objective in England.

"So…what's the plan today?" Caroline murmured to herself, studying the Janice pin board again. Caroline was beginning to suspect that Janice had left Chelsea by now, but if she had, what did that mean for Caroline? Where was she meant to look then? She had absolutely no idea where Janice would go. She didn't know her at all. She could go _anywhere_, and looking for her then would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. No, Caroline would do one last sweep of Chelsea again, combing every square inch of this damn city, before she moved on.

Caroline showered and dressed as quickly as she could and headed out, her curls still slightly damp. She decided to start with the mall. It was her own frequent hang out spot after all, back when she was still an innocent petty little teenage human girl. She started in the swimwear shop, pretending to flick idly through a stack of one pieces as she eyed up every female customer.

And then…she saw her. It was a split second, a tall girl moving into the changing rooms with a stack of rainbow coloured kaftans slung over one arm. Her hair was a badly dyed peroxide yellow, unlike the brunette in the photo that Caroline had, but as she pulled back the changing room curtain her nose wrinkled, showing the same quirk in her top lip that Caroline had studied so many times in Marilyn's photo. Not caring about the other humans in the shop, Caroline whooshed in the changing room after Janice at vampire speed, blocking Janice's way out as the curtain fluttered shut behind them. Janice, immediately sensing what Caroline was, backed against the opposite wall, her eyes a mix of terror and anger.

"Leave me alone." She ordered, her voice trembling. She began raising a hand, no doubt to give Caroline one of those awful witchy headaches Bonnie used to spit out.

"WaitdontworryMarilynfromCostaRicasentme." Caroline blurted out quickly in one breath, putting her hands up to show her innocence. Janice lowered her hand.

"What? Marilyn?"

"She said you have to give me Emily's first clue. In change of what she did for you in Costa Rica. Please, do you have it?" Caroline couldn't believe it. She had _found _Janice. She was finally getting somewhere with this entire gruelling, impossible task! Despite herself, she felt a sprinkling of tears prickling at the back of her eyes. Janice looked hesitant.

"Why does Marilyn want to help you?" She asked suspiciously. "You're a…a…"

"Vampire, yeah." Caroline said. She grabbed one of Janice's hands, ignoring the girls automatic flinching, and looked earnestly into the young girls eyes. "But I'm fighting on the witch's side. I want Klaus dead just as much as everyone else does."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Caroline shrugged helplessly. "There's really no concrete way to prove to you that I am. I'm just asking for you to take a chance on me, like Marilyn did. She found it in herself to believe me."

A silence fell between the two girls. Janice's posture was still tense, her eyes wary and flickering all over Caroline. Caroline waited for her decision. She wondered briefly about what she would do if Janice refused to help her. Would she grab her? Force the information out of her? No, she had promised Marilyn. If Janice wouldn't help her, Caroline would just have to redirect her plan. She had no idea _how, _but she would have too.

Janice nodded suddenly, snapping Caroline's attention away from her thoughts. Slowly, Janice reached under her shirt and pulled out a large necklace locket. In the locket clasp was a small piece of paper, folded over a million times. Janice pressed it into Caroline's palm.

"If Marilyn trusts you then so do I." Janice paused. "I've seen you around here recently, actually. I saw you at the library the other day."

Caroline could have kicked herself. The person she was looking for had seen _her _first? She was undoubtedly the worst spy in the world. Had Caroline seriously been fooled by a box of hair dye?

Not to mention running into Klaus, as well. Maybe Caroline should take Janice's route and dye her hair.

"Yeah, I've been looking for you for a while now." Caroline laughed, tucking the piece of paper into her jeans pocket. "Thank you for this. Really. I seriously appreciate this. I promise you, I _swear _on my life, that I will succeed. I'm going to stop Klaus from ruining any more lives."

Janice looked down, droplets gathering at the end of her eyelashes. "Emily and I didn't talk that much, but I still considered her as someone close to me." She said, her voice so soft that it was barely audible. "I can't believe that she's gone now."

Caroline laid a hand on Janice's shoulder. "She won't die in vain. I'll make sure of it." Caroline hurried out of the changing room stall and store, wanting to get home where she could read the first clue in private. She felt giddy with excitement. For the first time in what felt like years, a genuine smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She felt a new burst of energy and a spring in her step, even despite her gruelling morning run. She was so concentrated on getting out of the mall and back home that she didn't notice where she was walking, until she had collided face-first into a hard male chest.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Caroline trilled automatically, jumping back. Her hand subconsciously brushed over her pants pocket, as it now held the most important object of her life.

"It's quite alright, love." A familiar voice said, the amusement evident in the tone. Caroline stilled. Oh, no. Not _again_. Raising her head wearily, she found herself looking into the eyes of none other than Klaus.

"What are you doing here?" She snapped, moving herself further away.

"I presume for the same reason you are, sweetheart. A bit of shopping, a nice place to hang out."

Caroline snorted incredulously. "I didn't realise that Klaus Mikaelson liked to _hang out_ in shopping malls."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Caroline."

"Well, there's a lot that I _do_, too." Caroline crossed her arms over her chest. Klaus' gaze hardened.

"How long are you staying in Chelsea?" He asked.

Caroline was about to reply 'I don't know', until she realised that, actually, she had _found _Janice, hadn't she? There was no reason for her to stay in this small town that was now plagued with the disease that was Klaus Mikaelson.

"I'm not."

'"Where are you going?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Back to your fiancé?" Klaus tried to pose the question casually, but Caroline could sense the tension beneath his words. She smiled, albeit bitterly.

"No, I'm good and done with Eric. I_ would _like my goldfish back, though." The teasing quip spilled out naturally, before she could stop herself. Caroline felt mad at herself as she noticed Klaus' amused smirk, the way he leaned in slightly closer to her as if he thought her joke was her forgiving him. And then she heard it. Slight, in audible, a sharp intake of shocked breath. Caroline's pupils darted to the left, her face staying facing Klaus. Janice. The girl was exiting the mall, a shopping bag slung over the wall. Caroline immediately saw _exactly _how she looked like to Janice. The vampire who had just boasted about her great desire for 'justice' and 'vengeance' and wanting to kill Klaus Mikaelson, having an intimate looking discussion with the hybrid himself.

Caroline wanted to turn to Janice, and explain the truth. To yell after her as she hurried away. But that would draw attention to her, and she didn't want that. She knew that Klaus was looking for the weapon too. The last thing she would want was to draw attention to a key person in the investigation. Caroline watched Janice run out of the mall, a pit in her stomach. No doubt Janice was running to Marilyn right now, to tell the old witch the extent of Caroline's deceiving and traitorous ways. Caroline felt beads of sweat forming on the back of her neck. The witches would feel so betrayed and stupid. This was so awful. Would they come after her?

Her pupils flicked back to meet Klaus'.

"I'm leaving today." She said. "In about twenty minutes or so."

Klaus' eyes flickered in surprise, an expression not commonly seen in his face. "Why the sudden decision to go?"

"There's places I'd rather be than here."

"And those are…"

"Places without you, Klaus." Caroline smiled without joy. "I'll decide my destination while I pack. Which is what I'm going to do right now. I'll see you around." She paused. "Or not."

* * *

><p>Caroline was back in her motel room, throwing her paltry amount of possessions back into her suitcase when there was a knocking on her front door.<p>

"What do you want, Mr Fiench?" Caroline yelled, not bothering to turn around. "I know I gave you the right amount, don't try and get any more money from me."

_Crack._ Caroline felt all the air crush out of her body as she was slammed against the cold concrete wall. A hot hand was wrapped around her neck, pressing her back of her throat against the wall. _Klaus_.

"What are you doing?" Caroline grasped, grappling at his unmovable hand. Klaus leant his face in, his mouth pulled into a mocking grin.

"Why you think you can continually try and deceive me is beyond my thinking, love." He said, his voice low and menacing. "Do you really think I'm so _fucking _stupid?"

Caroline stilled and stopped struggling. She had never heard Klaus curse, _ever_. She didn't even know his pretty little British gentleman accent _could_.

"I…don't know what you mean." She choked out. Klaus laughed, tightening his grip.

"Don't bother lying, sweetheart. Do you really think I wouldn't notice you searching for the stake? Talking to the lovely teenage Janice?"

Caroline felt every muscle in her face slacken. _He knew_.

"Luckily for me, you found my first clue for me." Klaus trailed his free hand lazily up Caroline's leg, stopping at her hip and digging into her jeans pocket. Realizing what he was doing, Caroline resumed struggling, convulsing her entire body and snarling in an effort to get away and not let Klaus get the clue.

"Get off me! Get _off! _Let me _go!_" She wheezed, clawing at him.

"Ah, ah, ah." Klaus tutted disapprovingly. "Don't fight, love. We both want to find the same item. We're going to be a _team_ on this." He unfolded the paper and read it, a slow, almost genuine smile spreading across his face.

"Well, Caroline," He said, releasing his grip. Caroline fell to the floor with a thud and struggled to get up, moving as far away from Klaus as she could at the opposite side of the room and flattening herself against the wall. Her entire mind was spinning. Her body was slack in defeat, but tensed in preparation to fight or run. Klaus stood still, a pillar of calm, his pupils flashing with yellow as he eyed Caroline like a hunter looks at his prey.

"It looks like I'll be taking you to Tokyo after all."


	3. A Lie

"And, _why_ would we become a team? I mean, what's the logic behind that?" Caroline settled herself onto her bed. She knew that it was pointless to try and run. She knew that any useless escape attempt would just end up in her being pinned to the wall by her throat again. She was a prisoner, in a room, to Klaus, just as before.

"We're both looking for the same thing, aren't we?" Klaus asked innocently.

"Yeah, but we're looking for it for different reasons." Caroline snapped in reply.

Klaus' smile widened. "Oh, but I hardly think the reason behind your search is relevant now, is it?"

Caroline bristled. "You never know." She said pointedly, staring daggers at him. "Anyway, knowing I have my own agenda, why do you think for a second that _I_ would help _you_?"

"Because if you don't I will obliterate everyone you ever crossed paths with." Klaus said flatly.

Caroline snorted defiantly. "You've already killed the most important people in my life." She said, her voice shaking slightly. She didn't like Klaus seeing how his words could still affect her.

"Maybe. That still doesn't mean that you're willing to look the other way as I kill millions of innocent people. I'll start with your fiancé, and I'll work my way down until I reach Mystic Falls own little star sheriff."

Caroline felt her face drain of colour. Thirty five years ago, she had packed her bags and left her childhood home without so much as saying a 'goodbye' to her mother. It was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. After Klaus had caused the Worst day, Caroline knew that the people she loved weren't safe with her anymore. That separating herself from them was the surest way to keep them from the fate that her friends had suffered. It had been something close to torture; in her darkest moments of grieving, her mum had been all Caroline had wanted.

Klaus was _not_ going to kill Liz, not after all the sacrifices Caroline had made to keep her mum alive. As rage and indignation began to build, she felt her fangs elongate through her front teeth, her veins purple and grow in the creases beneath her eyes. Klaus' own eyes seem to light up, watching Caroline vamp out.

"Don't even think about it," Caroline hissed, her voice sounding terrifying even to her. "I am not _kidding_, Klaus, _don't even think about it_." Her fingers were so tightly curled into fists that she could feel her fingernails drawing blood in the skin of her palm.

Klaus reached out and cupped her cheek in one hand, trailing his thumb across his jaw. He looked entranced by her death threats.

"You are celestial, love." He murmured, almost reverently.

"_Don't touch me_."

Klaus retracted his hand, a look of awe still on his face.

"You _will_ help me, Caroline." He said, the words an affectionate yet stone-set order. Caroline didn't bother replying. They both knew that he had her as his fucked up little sidekick as soon as he said the words 'Mystic Falls'. Slowly, she felt her veins fade back into her normal face.

"How am I meant to help you anyway?" She asked her voice laced with bitterness. "What can _I _do that the all-powerful hybrid _can't_?"

Klaus looked at her with amused tolerance. "You can be my infiltrator, love. Everyone wants to trust a pretty little blonde like you."

Caroline laughed. "Not anymore. You wouldn't know, but Janice-"

"Saw us talking together at the mall, yes." Klaus finished her sentence. Caroline gaped at him.

"You saw her?" She asked. _Damn_, _I thought I had been subtle about looking at her._

"I've been watching for Janice for weeks." Klaus said. "As well as you." He added, as an afterthought. Caroline felt utterly stupid.

So, Klaus had known what she was doing the moment she had arrived in Chelsea. How had she not put that together? As if her running into him, after _thirty five _years, in the very town that held the first important clue to finding the most powerful weapon in the world was? She was an absolute _idiot_. To add insult to the injury, Klaus had known exactly where Janice had been all the weeks that Caroline had been pounding the pavement looking for her. She fought to keep her irritation off her face, to stay impassive.

"So you know that no one's going to trust me anymore." She said flatly. "I know you've appointed yourself as team leader for whatever this is, but if I could make a suggestion, I would say that we should probably leave Chelsea very soon. I don't doubt Marilyn will be looking for me very soon."

"No, I don't doubt she will." Klaus agreed. He scooted closer to Caroline, who subconsciously shifted backwards.

"So we need to make her trust you again."

"We _can't_, it's impossible-"

"Nothing's impossible, love." Klaus said, moving even closer. In on swift movement, he grabbed Caroline and pulled her flat against him, dipping his head into her neck and biting into her flesh.

Caroline collapsed onto the heavy wooden door in front of her. When she moved her hand back to clutch at the rapidly oozing wound at her neck, she saw that she had left a bloody hand print on the white paint.

"Marilyn, _help_ me!" Caroline screamed. Before the words had even left her mouth, the door opened, causing Caroline to stumble forward, and Marilyn and Janice glowered at her from the doorway. Caroline held her hands up in surrender.

"Please!" She cried. "Please, I know what you think! But, look," Caroline turned her head and brushed her hair to the side, revealing the giant werewolf bite. Janice gasped.

"Let me inside!" Caroline looked around frantically. "I escaped, I'm not safe, he's looking for me!"

Without saying a word, Marilyn wrapped a firm hand around Caroline's bicep and pulled her gently inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

"You'll be safe from Klaus here. He's never been invited in." The old witch said, planting Caroline down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"Now," She said, her face not giving any emotions away. "Explain." The witches stood above Caroline, both looking untrusting and poised to attack at any moment.

A stray tear leaked from Caroline's eye, and she wiped it away irritably. "I ran into him in a club a couple of nights ago. He already knew about Janice, and he figured out exactly what I was doing. I didn't figure that out. I was _so _stupid." Caroline pounded the kitchen table in front of her angrily. "Then… he started following me. He followed me to the mall, and saw me talking to you,"

He cut me off on my way home, and took me back to my motel and strangled me and-and _threatened _me, until I gave him the first clue." Tears pooled in Caroline's eyes. She buried her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry! I didn't want to, but I didn't think I had a choice. I know what he's capable of and I got…so scared."

Marilyn laid a gentle but firm hand on one of Caroline's shoulders.

"Go on." She said.

Caroline raised her head wearily, wiping her red-rimmed eyes. "He read the piece of paper, but he didn't understand it all. He couldn't work out the symbols at the bottom…? He thought that _I_ knew what they meant, and he told me that he was going to keep me as his…._pet _or something in Tokyo to help him. I told him _no_, of course." She clasped a hand around her neck wound. "And he bit me." Caroline let out a shuddering sob. "I managed to run out and….and….I came here. I don't know why. It's not like I can _stay _here or anything. I have to go back to him, or I'll die."

"You can't go back to him." Janice protested immediately.

Caroline cast her gaze wearily onto her. "I _have _to. His blood is the only cure."

"But if you go back to him, he'll take you to Tokyo."

"I know." Caroline closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "But, if I managed to run out once, I should be able to escape from him in Tokyo. It's a big city, right?" Her voice heightened in hopefulness. Janice pursed her lips.

"It's a risk, going back to him." She pointed out.

"I don't have any other options." Caroline replied miserably. "He probably won't heal me until we board a plane on route to Japan." She let out a short, sharp bitter bark of laughter. Janice and Marilyn exchanged a long gaze, silently communicating with each other.

"I _thought_ you were lying to us before," Janice began carefully. "When I saw you with Klaus."

"I know." Caroline sighed. "I wanted to run after you and explain, but…I couldn't. I thought it would be better if I kept you away from Klaus."

Another long, tense look was exchanged between the two witches.

"Are you confident that you can escape in Tokyo, Caroline?" Marilyn asked finally. Caroline straightened in her chair.

"Uh, yes. Yes, definitely. I won't stop until I do." She promised.

"And do you still want to take on the task of killing Klaus? Now that this has happened." Marilyn gestured to Caroline's bite.

Caroline's face twisted into stone. "This has only made me want to even more."

"The symbols aren't a name, they're spell." Janice blurted out, causing Marilyn to glare at her.

"Janice!"

"I trust her, Marilyn." Janice said defensively. "He's a _monster_."

"Why are you telling me this?" Caroline asked.

"Because you said you'd escape, Caroline. And after you escape, you have to find Pearl Yung. She's the only other witch, bar Marilyn and Emily, who knows what the symbol means." Janice moved forward, looking directly into Caroline's eyes. "The symbols will mean nothing to Klaus. He'll search for their meaning for decades and never know. You have to get away from him, and make sure he's not following you, and find Pearl. Do you promise you will?"

Caroline took a deep breath. She looked into the expectant, hopeful and wary faces of Marilyn and Janice. They all wanted the same thing here, and that was Klaus, six feet under and finally paying for all of his crimes unto humanity.

"Yes. I do. I promise." A sudden shudder went up Caroline's entire body, making her gasp. Janice and Marilyn both started towards her.

"It's fine!" Caroline assured them, waving them away. "It's just the venom beginning to move through my body." A small sheen of sweat started to form on her forehead.

"You're going pale, dear." Marilyn said, looking concerned. "Is there anything we can do?"

Caroline smiled bleakly. "No. I've been through this before. I guess my times up." Another shudder started, this time making Caroline's eyes bulge. The wound stung hot. Caroline clasped her hand back to it. She was a regular to the symptoms now. She felt her vision began to distort and blur, and she struggled to stand herself up from the chair she was seated in. Caroline stumbled, and had to hold onto the table to steady herself. Janice and Marilyn fretted beside her.

"I'm fine, fine." Caroline murmured, trying to stand tall. A third shudder went through her, and she keeled over the edge of the table.

The front door caved in, dropping onto the kitchen tile floor with a giant _slam_.

Klaus leant against the now bare doorframe, smiling. "Afternoon, ladies."

"You could've knocked." Marilyn said frostily.

"I found this way more amusing." Klaus grinned.

"Stop it, Klaus" Caroline gasped, still bent over the table. Klaus turned his attention to her.

"Seems like you're dying, love."

"I'm feeling just dandy." Caroline snapped sarcastically, the words coming out in shallow, short breaths. Klaus laughed.

"Enchanting until the end." He stepped backwards slightly, gesturing outside. "Are you ready to go to Tokyo?"

"Leave her alone." Janice snapped, moving so that she was standing in front of Caroline. Klaus narrowed his eyes.

"I'll deal with you later." He warned. "Or, step outside, and I'll deal with you now."

"No!" Caroline gasped out. She struggled to stand up, leaning heavily on Janice. By now, her entire face was paper-white and sheened with a cold sweat. She could feel her the veins in her neck pump in time to her heart beat. Slowly, carefully, Caroline stumbled towards the front doorway.

She paused a few centimetres away from the doorstep and Klaus, where she knew the magical boundary lay.

"I'll come with you," She rasped. "If you leave them alone. Unconditionally. No matter _what_ happens between now and whenever."

Klaus cocked his head. "Do you really think you're in any position to be trying to make deals?"

Caroline smiled humourlessly. "Probably not." She held his eye contact, despite her eyes fluttering and fighting to close with exhaustion. She could feel Janice and Marilyn's baited breath beside her.

Finally, Klaus nodded. "Fine. Come along, then." Caroline made the last stilted breath to the door.

Janice grabbed her shirt sleeve and cupped her hand over Caroline's ear.

"Caroline…does he _like_ you? I think you can do this." She scuttled back to the safety of Marilyn. Caroline shot a wan smile at Janice. Young and idealistic, thinking that crushes could overcome cruelty. Caroline hoped that this would be the last time she encountered Janice, and that she'd never learn any different.

When she reached the doorway, Klaus grabbed her arm and pulled her up to his chest, swinging her up bride-style. Caroline resisted the urge to lay her head on his chest, despite the unwavering heaviness that had settled above her brow. She sighed restlessly. Klaus glanced down at her.

"Easy, love." He said, in a tone that bordered comforting. There was a taxi cab waiting for them on the corner of the street. As Klaus helped Caroline in, she caught Janice's gaze from where she was standing with Marilyn in her house.

"I promise." She mouthed silently, her hooded eyes staring earnestly in her. Janice nodded back. Caroline feel against the leather seats, her eyes fluttering shut.

"Can you heal me now?" She asked Klaus as he slid in beside her.

"You'll last until we board the plane."

"Wow, thanks for caring." Caroline said sarcastically, although it came out a bit more pathetic than she would have liked.

"Where to?" The cab driver twisted his head around to look at the pair. Klaus glanced at Caroline.

"Where are we headed to, love?"

Caroline sighed. She felt like scum. Like dog poo that you stepped on and tried to wipe off on the grass. She was the worst person she had ever known, bar Klaus, and she was disgusted with herself. But, she couldn't risk Liz's life.

"Pearl Yung." She answered quietly, not bothering to open her eyes. She was worse than scum.

"The airport, mate." Klaus grinned as he replied to the taxi cab. He leant towards Caroline, whispering in her ear just like Janice had.

"Good job, sweetheart. I knew you could do it."

Caroline recoiled away, twisting so that she faced the window. She dozed restlessly during the cab trip, waking with a start when it came to an abrupt stop at the curb outside the airport.

"Klaus, my stuff is at the motel," Caroline murmured quietly, not moving. Every limb felt like it was filled with lead. She could feel every heart beat as a shudder through her skin. She was boiling hot, and freezing cold.

"Actually, love, it's in the trunk." Klaus let himself out of the car and Caroline heard the boot slam, sending vibrations through her entire body. She flinched. The car door her side opened, and Klaus scooped her up easily again in his arms, supporting her with just one arm as he carried her suitcase with the other. By now, Caroline's head was so heavy and aching that she willingly leant it against Klaus' solid, warm chest, her eyes closing. Even blind, she could feel the gawking stares of all the other passengers in the airport as they wondered what on hell was going on. Klaus compelled them through the various stages of the airport. Caroline must have fallen asleep during the ordeal, because when she came to again she was already strapped into a business class aisle airplane seat. She felt _terrible_. She was dying.

"Klaus," She croaked desperately.

Klaus, who was sitting leisurely reading a magazine, cocked his head in Caroline's direction.

"I've done…everything you've asked of me." She felt pathetic. She almost wished she was dead.

"Of course, love." Klaus pulled her up slightly, wrapping her arms around his neck so that she would have better leverage as she bowed her head towards his neck and sunk her fangs in. Rich, hot liquid filled her mouth immediately, moving through her veins like sugar syrup and filling Caroline with warmth. As she tightened her grip on his neck and pushed herself closer, Caroline fought the moan that threatened to escape her lips. Klaus' blood was intoxicating. Caroline hated herself for how much she loved it. She had only ever tasted it on her deathbed, but she thought that it would taste like heaven no matter when she had it. She sometimes found herself thinking about it at random times, craving the taste. She had never tasted any blood remotely like it.

Unwillingly, Caroline detached herself from Klaus, discreetly wiping her mouth. As much as she loved it, she didn't want Klaus to know. No doubt he would find a way to use it against her somehow.

"Feeling better?" Klaus asked, a cocky smile spread on his face.

"Can I have the window seat?" Caroline said, in lieu of a response.

"Of course." Surprisingly, Klaus slid out of the seat, allowing Caroline to take his place.

"Why did you do that?" She asked suspiciously.

"Because I was trying to be nice, you sour little vamp. Have you ever seen a Tokyo skyline from the sky?"

Caroline turned her head toward the small square window, resting her forehead on it.

"No."

"Good." Klaus murmured behind her. She heard rustling as he picked his magazine back up. "I've always wanted to be the one to show you."

Caroline had watched one Adam Sandler movie, one animated Disney film and one _especially _boring movie about some sort of lawyer and court, before she finally gave in and started a conversation with Klaus. Her eyes were grainy from staring at the small screen in front of her. Ideally, she would have liked to sleep the time away, but Klaus' blood had her feeling extra-energized. In fact, she was having trouble sitting still. Shifting her position so that she was sitting cross-legged, Caroline peered at Klaus, who was sketching something.

"What are you drawing?"

"Your last movie looked very enthralling." Klaus replied, his head bent over his sketchpad.

"I'm _very _bored." Caroline said plainly.

Klaus lifted his head and grinned at her. "You're lovely when you're bored."

"What are you drawing?"

Klaus lifted his pad to show her. It was a landscape of Chelsea. If it wasn't for the tell-tale pencil lines, it could have been a photograph.

"Like it?" Klaus asked, his face smug.

Caroline tried to give an indifferent shrug. "It's alright." She paused. "I got _my_ drawing."

"Did you?" Klaus' eyes flickered back to his sketchpad.

"It came in the mail."

"Ah."

"So…what made you send it, out of the blue?"

"A friend tried to look at it. I almost ripped her head off. I realised that I didn't want anyone else to see it, bar you."

"My fiancé did."

Klaus mouth set into a grim line. "You talk as if you two are still engaged."

Caroline toyed with a piece of her hair. "Well, we _are_, I guess. I mean, in technical terms."

After a long moment of silence, Klaus fished in his jeans pocket and took out a folded up envelope. Caroline peered at it curiously, then ripped it away as she recognised the handwriting.

"Seriously?" She demanded.

"I didn't read it." Klaus said defensively.

"Oh, well _thank _you!" Caroline said sarcastically, her volume raised.

Klaus glanced around the sleepy plane. "Don't make a scene, love."

"Screw you, Klaus." Caroline snapped. She ripped open the envelope, tilting the letter inside away from Klaus so that he couldn't read. The sloppy green pen writing and childish language made it seem like it was written by a 5 year old.

As she read, Caroline's brow furrowed and she grew angrier and angrier.

_Dear Caroline,_

_So, I found out about you. I always knew you were hiding something. You were way too cold and fucked up to be sane. Luckily for you, you were hot, so I could forgive your crazy. And I found out that you had a LOT of crazy. The biggest, baddest vampire in the world pussy whipped by a little 17 year old blonde babe? Bonkers. No offence, babe, you're hot, but someone with Klaus' reputation could have ANYONE he wanted. So why are you always so angry all the time? Phil told me that you apparently rejected Klaus (a completely INSANE move on your part, hun) and he ripped apart your hometown, including all of your teenage friends. And you ran away, and he's been tracking your ass ever since. That's what Phil said, at least. I don't know, baby, but no amount of hot is worth this much baggage. Since you left, I'm re-filing the house under my name and keeping everything. I've got another girl living here now, so probably don't come back._

_-Eric_

_PS. Despite the drama, babe, it's pretty fucking sick to know that I banged a chick that wouldn't even bang the most powerful creature on this whole fucking world. Was it the charm, or the guns? LMFAO._

Caroline screwed up the letter in her hand and aimed it at the headrest of the seat in front of her.

"Bad news?"

"Eric _was _bad news." Caroline screwed herself into a positon not unlike the balled up piece of paper, tucking her feet under her knees.

Klaus hesitated. "May I read it?" He asked politely.

Caroline opened her mouth to yell at him again, but couldn't work up the effort. "Knock yourself out."

Klaus reached over and picked the letter up off the floor where it had landed. Smoothing it carefully, he scanned the piece of paper, his eyes beginning to flame.

"Right." He said carefully. He folded the paper once, then again, and settled it in his lap.

"When we land, I'll take care of it." Klaus told Caroline.

"Don't waste the effort. Eric means nothing."

"I'll decide that, Caroline."

"No, _I _will." Caroline argued, snatching the letter off his lap. "Because he was _my _fiancé."

"Right." Klaus said again. "I don't mean to pry, or judge, but may I ask how that came to happen. A man of that…_sort_. I would have never guessed you would _date _anyone like that."

"Yet you expect me to date _you_?" Caroline bit back. Klaus' face hardened.

Caroline grabbed the letter back and shoved it up the airplane's window blind. "I told you before. I surround myself with people I dislike, and then I don't really have to deal with disappointment or grief or sadness or _whatever_, when they finally leave."

Klaus turned back to her. The hardness of his face had softened, slightly.

"That's no way for you to live." He said.

"Well, how do _you _live?" Caroline asked.

Klaus smiled thinly. "You deserve better than me, Caroline."

"Yeah, I do." Caroline agreed. "Unfortunately, I don't _get_ that. I have to try make the best out of what I'm capable of having. I know how close I am to turning off my humanity. I have to surround myself with emotions that I can handle. Anger, annoyance, frustration. It keeps me…" She paused, trying to explain the jumbled thoughts in her head into words. "_Feeling_, still, I guess, but not at a level I can't handle. If I have to experience grief or heartbreak or this-this _crippling _sadness even once more, I will _snap_, Klaus. I will snap and I will flip the switch and then I will _forget_," Caroline's voice cracked. "Everyone. And I can never allow myself to do that, Klaus. I need to be thinking about them in a thousand years. When Jeremy has great-great-great-great grandkids, I want them to know about Elena. I want to tell every Bennett witch that will ever live about the wonder that was Bonnie Bennett. Every time I almost lose it, I remember the Salvatore brothers. Damon didn't believe I could handle it, which makes me need to prove him wrong, and Stefan helped me through it, which is the entire reason why I am still standing here today. And it's just not fair, that he's _not_!" Tears ran tracks down Caroline's cheeks. She was breathing hard with exertion. Oh, God. She didn't mean to say _any _of that, it had all just somehow _spilled_ out. Klaus didn't deserve to know the pain she had suffered because of him. He didn't deserve to know all of her innermost feelings that she had just spilt. Nervously, she glanced at him.

His reaction shocked her. All the colour had drained from his face, and his eyes were blank and staring straight into nothingness. He was completely still and unmoving, almost as if he was carved from marble.

His mouth parted silently. "Sometimes, I make the wrong decisions. I allow my… _temper_ to get the best of me."

"Yeah, whatever." Suddenly, being bored seemed like the more favourable option. Caroline huddled away from Klaus. Incredibly, she managed to doze off again, lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the plane moving. She was woken up by Klaus gently shaking her shoulder.

"Look out your window." He said, smiling. Caroline wiped the sleep from her eyes and pulled the window shade up, gasping as she did so. It was like a still from a movie. The sprawling metropolitan skyline was alight with thousands and thousands of glowing windows and signs and lights. It was almost as if they were flying above a starry sky. Caroline pressed her palm against the window, staring out in awe as the plane landed.


	4. A Rumour

**A/N: I have been loving the review for this fic! Everyone is getting quite deep into it, and really making me ask myself questions and think about the characters and the story. The feedback has been more insightful than any other feedback that I've ever had before, and it really pushes me to keep writing. On a more annoying note, my return to the hole in the earth that is my school means that I no longer have time to pinpoint and edit (some) of these chapters as much as I did before, so I apologise for any lacking. I still don't publish them until I've re-read and edited them a couple of times over, but the time constraints have stopped me from being my usual finnicky self.**

** R&R!**

* * *

><p>Caroline walked into their hotel room and stopped abruptly. She whirled on her heel and arched a single eyebrow at Klaus.<p>

"Seriously?"

In the middle of their lavish Hilton hotel room was a giant king sized bed, piled high with cream and beige cushions.

Klaus moved to stand beside Caroline, putting down her suitcase.

"Obviously," He said politely. "I'll be sleeping on the couch for the duration of our stay."

"Yes." Caroline said. "You will. There were no double rooms available?"

Klaus shrugged and went out to the balcony.

"Love," He called. "Come look at this view." Huffing, Caroline followed him outside. She had to admit that the view was spectacular. She had never seen a city like this. A million lights, carved into the shape of skyscrapers and windows, flashing over and over again, bright and neon against the black of the sky.

"It's alright." Caroline allowed.

"New York is nice," Klaus comments. "But in my opinion, Tokyo always was the _real _city that never sleeps. Would you like to see it?"

"Do I have a choice?"

* * *

><p>"I want you to know that I am <em>very <em>uncomfortable right now." Caroline hissed in Klaus' ear, her fingernails tightening around his arm. Klaus glanced back at her, an amused look on his face.

"Relax, sweetheart. You'll be nothing but admired here."

"Yeah, that's slightly why I'm uncomfortable."

"Admiration is a compliment." Klaus promised, his own eyes raking over her appreciatively. Caroline scowled at him, and was irritated by the subsequent flushing that spread up her face. They were entering a dark, musty, dirty looking club, packed to the limit with middle-aged Japanese men in suits and young skinny girls in brightly coloured frilly taffeta skirts. _Apparently_, this was the classy establishment where Klaus' top, very valuable and important, source frequented. Caroline was wearing the one and only dancing-type dress she had in her suitcase, which happened to be from when she was going through a particular hot mess stage with a bad boy warlock named James, and ended about ten inches _above _her knee. She could tell even before she left the hotel that the majority of her night was going to be spent pulling the dress down.

"Are you going to at least buy me a drink first?" Caroline asked sarcastically, but, as she was talking, a tuxedo-wearing waiter stopped by them with a margarita, handing it to a surprised Caroline.

"Compliments from the man at the bar." He ducked his head and hurried away, nervous of the furious look that had appeared on Klaus' face.

Caroline glanced at the bar. A portly man with slicked back hair and a loosened tie nodded and winked at her. Caroline shrugged and raised her glass to him, winking back flirtatiously. Klaus growled almost inaudibly beside her.

"I thought you were feeling _uncomfortable_." He grabbed her elbow and whisked her gently through the crowd, making sure she wasn't jostled by any of the crowds. At the back of the club, near the ladies bathrooms, was a plain, discreet door. Klaus led Caroline through into a small room decorated almost exactly like the main room of the club. Four business men, flanked by two scantily clad girls _each_¸ glanced up at their arrival.

"_Niklaus_!" One man, with an overbite and yellowed eyes, stood up and threw open his arms in welcome.

"So glad you have come!" Overbite grinned. His gaze slid to Caroline. "Who is your friend you have bought? You did not say? We had prepared your usual selection of Lee and April?" He gestured to two petite girls in the corner of the room, both nearly naked in matching tiny metallic bikinis. Caroline turned to face Klaus, her eyebrows raised. Klaus, in a feat Caroline had never seen before, almost _blushed_.

"Thanks, but I won't need the ladies services tonight." He said quickly, not meeting Caroline's eyes.

"Only _one _woman, Niklaus? Have you gone soft with old age?" A second man, this one thin and reedy, piped up. Caroline disliked him immediately. His eyes were like lizards and flickered up and down her, lingering on the expanse of leg she was showing. Caroline tugged her dress town self-consciously.

"Has the wolf finally found his mate?" Lizard eyes asked. "Are you tame now, my friend?"

Caroline tensed automatically, expecting Klaus to rip Lizard eye's head off for speaking to him like that. Instead, his arm reached around her shoulders and he grinned at the man.

"If any woman could…" He smirked. Caroline shrugged out of his arm, bristling.

"Who could? April?" She asked innocently. The four men laughed behind her. Klaus' jaw tightened.

"Sit. Please. Klaus, treasured guest." Overbite gestured them into the empty, cushy armchair opposite Lizard eyes and another man. Lizard eyes grinned as Caroline struggled to sit in her tight dress.

"So, what is it about this one with the yellow hair?" He asked. "I thought you liked the taste of your local flavour on your visits?"

"Is this guy serious right now?" Caroline huffed quietly in Klaus' ear. She was _way _past the point in the life where she let men objectify her and get away with it. In fact, she overpassed that point basically at the same time that she had been smothered to death with Katherine's pillow. Vampires didn't need to take shit from anyone, and she had spent many a night teaching a man a lesson for making a demeaning remark. Klaus lay a comforting hand on her knee, but Caroline pushed it off. This guy was getting _seriously _under her skin. She didn't even want to _be _in this _country_.

"Did you fly her over?" Lizard eyes asked. He raised an eyebrow as Klaus nodded. "Ooh. She must be _very_ tasty to deserve her own little holiday."

"_Alright_." Before she could think about what she was doing, Caroline was out of the armchair and lunging towards the man, her fangs bared. Klaus grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her back just as Caroline's clenched fist was inches from his smug, giggling face.

"Easy, love." Klaus cautioned. "I didn't realise you were so inclined to violence."

"Certain triggers, Klaus." Caroline replied, jerking at her restraints. Klaus gently shoved her back into the arm chair and strode up to Lizard Eyes.

"Now do you see why I like her?" Klaus asked, smiling and clapping a hand on the guys shoulder. Caroline fumed from her seat. _Seriously? _Was Klaus _defending _and _laughing_ with this masochistic offensive disgusting man?

Klaus' hand tightened. "And," He continued, a friendly smile still plastered on his face. "I think owe her an apology."

Lizard eyes snickered, not bothering to look at Klaus. "The day that _I _apologize to a stupid bitch is the day that I die." Caroline's mouth twitched.

Klaus' smiled stayed broad. "And I guess not even then." He said and, swiftly, pulled Lizard eyes' heart out of his chest. Lizard eye's gasped, falling backwards and clasping the hole where his heart had been only moments before. Gasps echoed around the room, including Caroline's, as his head lolled back and he twitched one final time.

"Any conversation surrounding my exquisite guest," He gestured to Caroline with the hand that was still holding the beating, bloody heart, "And is not _100% _positive and in her favour, should now cease to exist. Cho, would you mind?" Overbite grabbed a white handkerchief out of his pocket and passed it to Klaus, who dropped it in the middle of the room and wiped off his hands. He handed it back to Cho, who grimaced and shoved it at one of the girls beside him.

Caroline shied away from him as he settled himself back into the armchair.

"What's wrong?" He murmured.

"Seriously?" Caroline did not even have enough _breath _in her bodyto tell him what was wrong. Besides, this room full of strangers, each probably as vile as Lizard eyes, was not the place. She knew Klaus didn't mind the occasional insult from her, but she wasn't sure how he'd react to the beat down she had swimming in her head, especially in a room of Klaus' elite-looking business associates.

"So," Another man spoke up, this one wear a natty plaid suit. "What is the business you want from us, Mr Mikaelson?" His eyes flickered to his dead's friends heart, and his sickly false smile broadened.

"I'm trying to find someone."

"Who?"

"A Mrs Pearl Yung. She has information I need."

A long, complex look was exchanged between the three men.

"Mrs Yung is, err, _notorious_ in Japan." Cho said.

"What for?" Caroline asked curiously. Cho looked surprised and irritated at the interruption, and the girls looked immediately scandalised. Caroline could tell that the tone in this room was very 'men talk, women listen'. She was sure Cho would make some cutting remark, if it wasn't for Klaus next to her.

"An evil woman. Dark magic." He answered her unwillingly instead.

"So, a witch, then?" She was confused about these men's knowledge about the supernatural. Obviously, they knew about Klaus, they had called him the 'wolf' and also just kind of witnessed him murdering someone with his bare hands, but did that mean they were also clued into witches?

"Yes, a _majo_."

"Where can I find her?" Klaus asked.

Cho scratched his chin hair nervously. "Ah…that is what she is notorious for. A master of disguise, a women of shadows. Only seen by those who she chooses to be seen by."

Klaus frowned. "Are you telling me you _can't _find her?" His voice took on a dangerous tone.

"No, no!" The only man who hadn't spoken yet jumped out of his seat, shocking the tutu-clad women on his knee.

"It means, it will take us _longer_ than usual." Cho explained. "And we may need more resources than usual."

Klaus shook his head and stood up, pulling Caroline up with him. "The usual sum." He said firmly. His mouth twitched into an amused smile. "You can split it by three now, though." A nervous, on edge tittering went through the room. Caroline stiffened beside him.

"I'll be in contact with you in a week." Klaus said. "Come along, love." Klaus ushered Caroline outside of the private room. The club had switched to a brazzy, high strung house number. On the black lit dance floor, pretty girls were grinding on wealthy looking elder men. This entire club was a carbon copy of them example Caroline had seen in the room, she realised.

"Do you want to dance, Caroline?" Klaus asked. His voice was casual, as if he had no idea of how much Caroline wanted to rip into him. She smiled sweetly at him.

"Sure." When they had found a suitable little pocket in the middle of the crowd, Caroline wrapped her arms around Klaus' neck and promptly stomped on his foot, puncturing the top of his leather shoe with her stiletto.

"Oof, _careful_, love-"

"_First_ of all," She hissed in his ear, leaning up and tightening her arm as if she was whispering sweet nothing, "I don't appreciate being carted around like your little _pet _or _mate,_ whatever the hell _that _is. Second of all, that room and those men were _disgusting _and I'm disgusted in the fact that you even associate with them. Did you see the way they looked at me when I talked? Are women not _allowed _to talk or something? This is 2015, _Klaus_." Another perfectly executed stomp.

"Caroline-" Klaus began, his voice irritated.

"I'm not _done_!" Caroline snapped. "Yeah, I maybe lost it a little in there at Lizard eyes, but you took it took a _whole _new level with all that _Kill Bill_ shit. Did you think that I _wanted _you to do that? Killing is not _currency_, Klaus. You can't do it to try impress or express or whatever the fuck _else _you want to do it for. However much of a terrible person Lizard eyes was, I don't want to feel even partially responsible for his death. And you shouldn't either. Don't you understand that?"

Klaus drew back from her, unwrapping her arms and placing them on his waist. He let out a hum, his eyes hooded.

"Most people would not have been able to get more than a sentence like that out before I had ripped them to shreds."

"Oh, my _God_." Caroline nearly screamed. "Did you literally just _not _hear a word that I said?"

"I heard." His eyes were masked, but Caroline saw something flicker there.

"But you don't want _to_, do you?" Without thinking, she grabbed his chin between her fingers and forced him to look her in the eyes.

"If anyone else dared lay a finger on me…" Klaus hissed, but he didn't move out of her grasp.

"I'm the only one who ever calls you out on all of this, aren't I?"

"Don't think you're special, love. Plenty of people disagree with my way of life." Klaus said sarcastically.

"And how do you deal with that? Rip out their lungs? And how do you deal with _me_? Let me, literally, stomp all over you."

Klaus' eyes hardened and slid past Caroline. She tightened her grip on his chin, her fingernails making indents in his skin.

"Is it hard, now, Klaus? I bet for thirty years you had almost forgotten what it was like for someone, whose opinion you actually care about, hating everything that you choose to do." Klaus' eyes, reluctantly, met her own again. "And I know you care about my opinion because I know _you_. Not through and through, but _enough_. And I know that you know _me_, too. Which is why I can't understand why you _do _these things and then expect me to be…to be _grateful_." Caroline spat out the last word, releasing Klaus' face.

Klaus gritted his teeth. "Killing _is _currency in my world. It's how I paid to keep my siblings and everyone else obedient, and loyal, and willing. It's commonplace-"

"It's just a part of who you are. It's inevitable. You killing someone is ordinary, and expected, and it doesn't matter who. Do you think the more people that you kill, the less that I'll care? That I'll realise it's just a _casual _thing you do, and forgive and forget about the Worst day of my life because you weren't _trying _to ruin my life, it's just that _murder_ is a part of you, just like your _fucking _star sign!" Caroline whirled abruptly and vampire-sped out of the club, not caring if anyone saw her. Klaus went to follow her, but was jostled out of his path by a dancing couple, and lost sight of her.

As angry as she was, Caroline still had to admire the beauty of Tokyo. The fluorescent, effervescent lights created a warm, light aura in the air, hanging low above the crowds that walked briskly through the streets, yammering loudly to each other. She loved it, the entire atmosphere, and wished she could have visited it in any other way but this. Nowhere else would she even be able to consider walking down the streets, dressed as she was. She wondered idly if now would be a good time to try and escape. She couldn't see Klaus behind her. But what had the men back at the club had said? That Pearl Yung was as good as impossible to find. Maybe she should wait until they found her, and then steal her away and show her the symbols. That would be the most logical plan.

The only flaw to it was the fact that she despised Klaus with every inch of her soul, and didn't know if she could stand him for another _minute_.

"_Caroline_? Are you _serious_?" A statuesque brunette made a run towards the vampire, picking her up and spinning her around like a little kid.

"Gracie!" Caroline laughed in response. "Put me the hell down, okay?"

The girl obliged, but planted a wet kiss on Caroline's cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"It's…complicated. What about you?"

"Oh, I love it here! It's like, my fifth home! Do you want to grab something to eat?" When she saw Caroline hesitate, she quirked an eyebrow. "What? Are you not feeding or something?"

"I don't drink from humans?"

"Not even a taste and tease?" Gracie's brow crinkled. She had met Caroline about twenty five years ago, when the Worst day was still recent in Caroline's mind and she was in a dark, unreachable place. She still didn't kill humans, but she was drinking from them and compelling, an act which plagued her with guilt in the present.

Gracie had been the friend she had needed, a wild child looking for someone to party with. She hadn't minded Caroline's depressed mood or violent mood swings, or how she would spend most nights drinking until she passed out. In fact, Gracie was usually on hand to pour her another drink when Caroline could no longer see straight to do it. Gracie had been a heavy drinker too, and a big over sharer. She was once attacked by the infamous Original vampire, Klaus Mikaelson, for trying to stop him from taking a coma-d out girl back home with him. She had escaped by smashing a glass against his face, but she now only had one kidney. Gracie told the story with gleeful nostalgia.

"Aren't you worried that he'll come looking for you?" Caroline had asked once. Gracie just shrugged, but Caroline had noticed how she only used payphones, and how she once killed a man where he stood for taking a photo of her in a nightclub.

"Oh, well, some sake then?" Gracie gestured to a place directly next to where they were standing. "This place is pretty decent."

Caroline shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

Gracie ordered for them, asking for "Kunshu sake".

"You'll like it, babe. It's fruity, like you."

Caroline laughed. When the drink came, Gracie slapped Caroline's had away as she went to pour herself a glass.

"You pour the other persons first, you heathen! Are you trying to make me look like a dorky tourist?"

"I _am _a dorky tourist." Caroline pointed out, but poured Gracie a drink obligingly.

"Caroline." Caroline's shoulders sagged. Without looking, she closed her eyes. She was such an idiot. She should've made Gracie take her to somewhere far away. But it wasn't like she could actually run away from Klaus. When she did eventually do it, she would need a much better plan that just running up the street.

Gracie stiffened in front of her, her face paling to a slack white. Klaus didn't seem to recognise her though, glancing idly at her and then focusing back on Caroline.

"Don't run out on me again." He growled, encircling her arm with his hand. Caroline glared back.

"I was feeling claustrophic." She replied tartly.

"Uh…I'm just, uh, going to the bathroom, Care, if you don't mind," Gracie leapt out of her seat, banging the table and spilling sake in her rush. Klaus shot her an irritated look.

"Fine."

Gracie was half way across the restaurant when Klaus talked again, his voice casual but resonating across the mostly empty room.

"If you try and run, however, I'll just have to come and get you and _that_ would be _decidedly_ unpleasant."

Gracie's entire body tensed, before she hurried off, disappearing into the ladies bathroom.

Klaus smiled at Caroline, releasing her arm and taking Gracie's seat.

"So is she scared of me because of something that I did to her, or is it just my reputation preceding me?" He asked. Caroline gaped at him.

"Wait, you just said that because…you really don't recognise her?"

Klaus shrugged. "Not in the slightest. I just happened to notice the table almost toppling over."

"Well," Caroline began haughtily. "You _should _remember her."

"Why?"

"You almost killed her!"

"Did I?" Klaus' expression didn't change from plain indifference.

"You were trying to force a poor drunk girl to go home with you, like some sort of _predator _or something." Caroline said, her voice disgusted. She was even more appalled at telling the story then she had been at hearing it for the first time, especially at what had happened back at the club. A small crease appeared in the middle of Klaus' brow, but his face didn't move otherwise.

"Gracie asked you to stop, and in response you took out her kidney. She managed to fight you off and escape. You seriously don't remember her?"

"No, I don't. Similar things happened a lot. Gracie, is that her name?"

"That's the name she _gave_ me. I doubt it's her real one."

Klaus smiled thinly. 'Smart girl."

"You're disgusting." Caroline snarled. Gracie came shuffling back to the table slowly, shaking and her eyes red rimmed with tears. Caroline reached out a hand to comfort her.

"Pull up a chair, have a seat, dear." Klaus invited.

"Leave her alone." Caroline hissed.

"Do shut up, Caroline."

Caroline's mouth opened and snapped shut again, gobsmacked. Klaus rarely talked to her meanly, and never in such a casual way. Gracie sat down next to Caroline, her eyes down and not looking at Klaus.

"So, Lenora," Klaus said, his voice smooth as silk. "I hear you've been telling some dirty little lies about me."

Gracie's head snapped up to glare at Caroline.

"What did you say to him, you idiot?" She said, her voice angry and high pitched. Caroline blinked.

"What? What you told me? Wait-Lenora?" She turned to Klaus. "So, you _do _know her, then?"

"Yes, I do." He turned his gaze from Gracie back to Caroline. "And I'm afraid her little concoction of a sob story was bunch of bullshit." He said bluntly.

"What?"

"You and your friends weren't the first to try and kill me, love." Klaus smiled for a second. "You _are_ the cutest to date, however."

Caroline ignored the comment.

"Lenora, here, and a bunch of twenty or so eager vampires tried, about a hundred years ago. Their weapons of choice were lighters and gas fluid." Klaus snorted in amusement. "I slaughtered them all," He said casually, even as the two girls winced visibly, "but left our little Lenora to spread the word of what she did, and to warn others not to bother trying to kill me. Instead," Klaus' eyes slid in narrow, angry slits. "I see she's been spreading a swoon-worthy story of our darling hero Gracie, saving a damsel in distress from the big bad wolf."

Lenora looked wildly around the room, mentally screaming for help. The restaurant was near empty, the staff blissfully ignorant.

"How _dare _you paint me as a _predator_." Klaus hissed, his face turning poisonous. Even Caroline was frightened of him, edging backwards in her chair. He looked ready to reach out and rip her to pieces, right here in public. Through his semi-closed eyelids, she could see flashes of yellow.

Caroline suddenly remembered a conversation between her and Stefan, sometime after the Mikaelson's ball. Damon had made a snide comment about Klaus just _'compelling Caroline for a night and getting over her'._

_"I did, after all." He had added. Caroline had glared at him vehemently, but Stefan had spoken up before she could snap back at him._

_"Klaus wouldn't." He said, sounding so self-assured that Caroline had stared at him in shock._

_"How do you know?"_

_"Murder, torture, bullying, drinking blood…he's fine with it all. But he draws the line at anything borderline sexual harassment."_

_"Sort of a muddled line to walk along." Caroline had commented._

_"Yeah, sure, but that's just how it is. When my memories of Chicago came back, I remember the only time Klaus had been really angry at me, apart from the whole Rebekah thing. I was trying to compel a women back to my bedroom-"_

_"_Stefan_!"_

_Stefan had shrugged, looking guilty. "It was the 20s. Klaus sent her away and threatened to snap my neck. I made some sort of 'oh sure, like you haven't done worse' comment, and he stabbed me in the throat with a broken bottle."_

_"Oh my God. So, why is he so opposed to it?"_

_Stefan had raised an eyebrow. "Do you think he _shouldn't_ be?"_

_"No, no!" Caroline had said quickly. "But I mean, he doesn't seem to have trouble with anything else despicable."_

_"I wouldn't know, honestly. But I always kind of thought that the reason behind it was the same reason behind him being so protective of Bekah."_

Shaking her head out of the memory, Caroline studied Klaus. He looked furious, sure, but it was so terrifying because it was layered over another emotion. Indignation? _Hurt?_

"I'm going to kill you, it case it wasn't clear." Klaus hissed.

"No!" Caroline grabbed Klaus' arm, wincing as he shook her off like she was an irritating dog. "Klaus, _don't_."

Klaus didn't bother looking at her. "I will not have my name dragged through the _filth _that Lenora created."

"Then compel her! Compel her to tell the truth!"

"She's on vervain." Klaus said. Caroline bit her lip.

"Trust her." She said meekly. Klaus barked out a sarcastic, vindictive laugh.

"_Trust _her?" His eyes met Caroline's again, his gaze sarcastic.

"Trust _me_, then." Caroline amended herself. "Or, do this for me. I know that you know that this is important to me."

"You've made your feelings about who I am very clear. Why should I bother?"

Caroline sighed and stood up, pushing her way out of the booth. It was no use. She couldn't stop him. He didn't have any humane part to even begin reasoning with.

"Maybe you shouldn't." She muttered, stalking out of the restaurant. She jammed the traffic light button, waiting for the lights to change. Klaus appeared behind her shoulder.

"I'm going back to the Hotel. You can wash the blood off your hands there." Caroline said sarcastically.

"I didn't do it."

Caroline didn't turn around. "Why not?"

"Because you're right, love. I do care about your opinion. And I've already got enough things working against me, I hardly need anything else." The lights flickered green and Klaus overpassed her, walking quickly.

"Wait." Caroline matched her pace with his. "Thanks."

Klaus glanced briefly at her. "Anytime, sweetheart."

* * *

><p>The Hilton was only a five minute walk, but when they reached it the elevator was malfunctioning and the staff told them that they would have to climb the stairs. Caroline cried out.<p>

"Noooo." She moaned, the hours of the night catching up to her in one swell crash. "My shoes are killing me." Klaus picked her up and began carrying her, just like before at the airport. Caroline started.

"Klaus! I didn't mean that…put me down!"

"What, and hear you moan some more? No thank you."

"Klaus!"

"Do shut up, love." It was the second time he had told her to stop talking, but this time his voice was laced with amusement.

"Well, _well_. I can't say I was expecting this, Nik." A posh, accented voice dripping with disdain was waiting for them at the door of their hotel room, belonging to the one female Caroline despised more than any other girl in the world. Rebekah.


End file.
